Drilling fluids are typically classified according to their base fluid. In water-based muds, solid particles are suspended in water or brine. Oil can be emulsified in the water. Nonetheless, the water is the continuous phase. Oil-based muds are the opposite or inverse. Solid particles are suspended in oil, and water or brine is emulsified in the oil, and the oil is the continuous phase. Brine-based drilling fluids, of course are a water-based mud in which the aqueous component is brine. It is apparent to those selecting or using a drilling fluid for oil and/or gas exploration that an essential component of a selected fluid is that it be properly balanced to achieve the necessary characteristics for the specific end application. Because drilling fluids are called upon to perform a number of tasks simultaneously, this desirable balance is not always easy to achieve.
It is desirable to use water-based fluids (WBFs) because they often have fewer environmental concerns and are generally less expensive. Nevertheless, there are a number of organic additives or products to WBFs that are useful for introducing into the WBFs including, but not necessarily limited to, lubricants, shale stabilizers, wellbore stabilizers, corrosion inhibitors, oxygen scavengers, rate of penetration (ROP) enhancers, anti-bit balling additives, anti-accretion additives, and combinations thereof. However, because these additives are organic, they may generally be hydrophobic and by nature do not mix well with water, but it should also be appreciated that these chemicals have a range of hydrophobicity and some may be hydrophilic. Introducing them directly into a WBF at the surface generally results in them quickly separating from the WBF.
It would be desirable if drilling fluids and methods for using them could be devised which would easily introduce at least one organic drilling fluid product into an aqueous drilling fluid at a remote location, such as downhole in a subterranean formation.